Joachim Froese

Question  Can you tell me about the use of dead insects and aspects of 17th century Baroque still life painting in relation to your work?

Response  The use of dead insects as subject matter developed through my interest in Baroque still life painting. The works in this exhibition are inspired by both Dutch and Spanish still lifes from that period.

Flemish and Spanish still lifes developed a naturalism that challenged preconceived ideas about painting and marked a beginning of ‘photographic thinking’. The use of optical tools and geometric perspective, as well as the suppression of all painterly gesture, led to seemingly truthful depictions that were nevertheless highly subjective constructions of, and reflections on, society and religion.

Baroque artists were also acutely aware of the transient nature of our existence and their belief that life and beauty are only a small step away from death is reflected in their paintings. Dutch painters in particular placed insects within their flower paintings as a reminder of the looming decay that is threatening the flowers in their full beauty. These little intruders in the Baroque bouquets have become the focus of my images.

Placed on their own stage they become animated as actors in a small theatrical space. The fact that all the insects are dead is only revealed when the viewer notices a broken wing or a hole in the body at a closer look and blurs the distinction between life and death even further.

Question  How do you use geometry in placing decaying fruit and food scraps in your images?

Response  Geometry is the backbone of all visual images and I consider carefully where I place objects within my photographs and how I divide the picture plane.

Spanish Baroque still life painting in particular has a strong geometric quality. Juan Sanchez Cotán, the most important Spanish still life painter of his period, presents the objects he paints on strings arranged in an exact logarithmical curve. Other painters present their objects mirrored along an imaginary line through the middle of their paintings.

Inspired by these geometric elements I have translated some of these techniques into photography and working with ‘doubles’ has become an important element of my work. I often print two negatives of the same object with slight alterations of light and composition, one print right side up, one print back to front. These two prints are placed next to each and create mirrored objects in a continuos light and space.